PIA Press Release2008/02/15

Pangasinan corn festival cited a rousing success

STO. TOMAS, Pangasinan (15 February) -- All roads led to Sto. Tomas last week as the little but model town of the fifth district celebrated its 100th year of founding, highlighted by a first-ever Corn Festival last Sunday focusing on corn, the town's top agricultural product.

The celebration already started February 1 with a parade around town and the opening of an agro-industrial fair followed by an ecumenical service in devotion to the town's patron saint, St. Thomas Aquinas.

Mayor Vivien O. Villar, wife of Undersecretary Antonio Villar, Jr, who heads the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Task Group, will lead her townmates in the centennial celebration as executive chairperson. Vice Mayor Timoteo Villar is the fiesta chairman.

Earlier on February 2, the alumni homecoming was held in the town followed by a Grand Day for all non-government organizations in the town on February 3.

On Thursday, February 7, a culinary treat, the 100 Ways to Cook Corn contest, reeled off followed in the evening by the coronation of Mrs. Centennial Sto.Tomas.

Last Saturday, the street dancing event thrilled hundreds of spectators with students competing in their lively and well-choreographed dances clad in colorful costumes made of corn products.

The town's well-heralded bid to capture the Guinness World record for the Longest Barbecue unfolded last Sunday with full media coverage on land and air as part of the documentation requirement for the event set by Guinness officials.

Some 121,000 corn ears were roasted using 2,028 grills at 2.4 meters per grill.

The grilling started from the town's boundary with Rosales up to the boundary with Alcala or close to a five-kilometer distance that would, the event organizers hope, outshine the present title holder for longest barbecue in Mexico and wrest the world title for the event for Sto. Tomas. (PIA-Pangasinan) [top]